The prologue begins with modern India and goes back to ancient and medieval India. Along with monogamy, the concept of homosexuality was introduced in India by guilt-ridden Christianity. Muslim ...
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The prologue begins with modern India and goes back to ancient and medieval India. Along with monogamy, the concept of homosexuality was introduced in India by guilt-ridden Christianity. Muslim culture is polygamous and very macho though homosexuality flourishes. Hindus were always polymorphous perverse in their sexuality in India. Giti Thadani revived Shakti temples appropriated by Siva’s linga. Gandhi discouraged homosexuality and told C.F. Andrews to turn his sexuality into seva. Ashok Row Kavi started Bombay Dost in the 1980s; Merchant edited Yaraana in the 1990s, which came out at the same time as Sukhthankar’s lesbian anthology Facing the Mirror. There is no gay movement in Indian poetry but all poets from Padamsee and Jussawalla to Godrej and Iqbal Rashid via Merchant are gay. Ardhanarishwar is the great bisexual god of ancient India. The meaning of Siva linga and tantra are explained. India’s gays explain homosexuality by the myth of Siva coupling with Vishnu as Mohini. The male devotees in bhakti go into the Radha bhava. There is misogyny towards Sita in Valmiki’s Ramayana. Arjuna acts as Brihannalla the eunuch in the ‘Vana Parva’ section of the Mahabharata. The ancient Yayati myth is also used in modern Marathi novels. The male Odissi gurus taught girls how to act as women. They also taught the mahari dances to the cross-dressed gotipua boys of Saraikela. Bhakti and Sufism both have homoerotic strands. Sex is shown on the temple walls of Khajuraho, Konark, and the yonisthals of Assam and Nepal. The naked sadhus sat on dildos to make the kundalini rise. In Muslim India, the court favourites sat on the Delhi throne with the sultan from the Slave to the Lodi dynasty. The cult of the eunuch was prevalent in the harem, the administration, and the battlefield. During the Mughal period, Babur’s boy-love was recorded in his autobiography. Boy-love from Isfahan was learnt from the Iranian court during their Iranian exile. Some important gay Sufis are Sarmad and Madholal Hussain. Gay ghazals are found in the Urdu poetry of Mir and Ghalib. The Nizam’s Hyderabad was the last gay bastion of gay Muslim culture of India.Less

Indian Homoeroticism

Hoshang Merchant

Published in print: 2016-07-07

The prologue begins with modern India and goes back to ancient and medieval India. Along with monogamy, the concept of homosexuality was introduced in India by guilt-ridden Christianity. Muslim culture is polygamous and very macho though homosexuality flourishes. Hindus were always polymorphous perverse in their sexuality in India. Giti Thadani revived Shakti temples appropriated by Siva’s linga. Gandhi discouraged homosexuality and told C.F. Andrews to turn his sexuality into seva. Ashok Row Kavi started Bombay Dost in the 1980s; Merchant edited Yaraana in the 1990s, which came out at the same time as Sukhthankar’s lesbian anthology Facing the Mirror. There is no gay movement in Indian poetry but all poets from Padamsee and Jussawalla to Godrej and Iqbal Rashid via Merchant are gay. Ardhanarishwar is the great bisexual god of ancient India. The meaning of Siva linga and tantra are explained. India’s gays explain homosexuality by the myth of Siva coupling with Vishnu as Mohini. The male devotees in bhakti go into the Radha bhava. There is misogyny towards Sita in Valmiki’s Ramayana. Arjuna acts as Brihannalla the eunuch in the ‘Vana Parva’ section of the Mahabharata. The ancient Yayati myth is also used in modern Marathi novels. The male Odissi gurus taught girls how to act as women. They also taught the mahari dances to the cross-dressed gotipua boys of Saraikela. Bhakti and Sufism both have homoerotic strands. Sex is shown on the temple walls of Khajuraho, Konark, and the yonisthals of Assam and Nepal. The naked sadhus sat on dildos to make the kundalini rise. In Muslim India, the court favourites sat on the Delhi throne with the sultan from the Slave to the Lodi dynasty. The cult of the eunuch was prevalent in the harem, the administration, and the battlefield. During the Mughal period, Babur’s boy-love was recorded in his autobiography. Boy-love from Isfahan was learnt from the Iranian court during their Iranian exile. Some important gay Sufis are Sarmad and Madholal Hussain. Gay ghazals are found in the Urdu poetry of Mir and Ghalib. The Nizam’s Hyderabad was the last gay bastion of gay Muslim culture of India.